Reflections on Islamic Identity, Citizenship Rights and Women’s Struggle For Gender Justice: Illustration From India

Women’s rights face an uncertain future throughout much of the Islamic world. The fate of women’s rights throughout the Islamic world crucially hinges upon the outcome of debates on reforms of family and penal codes including new understandings of Islamic law and teaching. It requires mention that there is no monolithic trend of women’s struggle for gender justice even in Islamic countries. It varies with the cultural setting, the political structure of the state and the location of the community. In the Islamic world, the question of gender justice often becomes a struggle to be fought at two levels: against the forces of conservatism in society and against its anti-democratic effects on the political structure of the country. There is growing tension between gender justice and rising conservatism. Fundamentalist forces try to impose greater control over women, even though this approach may or may not have to do anything with religion. In such a context, Muslim women face several new dilemmas. Do they stand with their community under attack and hold in abeyance their struggle against the fundamentalist leaders or do they foreground their critique of Islamic conservatism at a time when imperialism uses women’s unequal status under Islamic law to garner ideological support for their imperial project? A similar dilemma is faced by Muslim women in India as members of a minority community faced with majoritarian communalism. A significant challenge before Muslim women is to find ways to overcome the dilemma and question the foundations of Islamic law where it is incompatible with democratic rights without compromising their sense of solidarity with their community. What must be done to overcome the practical hurdles that stand in the way of reconciling Islam with universal principles of women’s rights? How can Muslim feminists win the interpretive struggle against the conservatives

Breaking stereotypes: two generations of Muslim women

"The stereotyped image of Muslim women as educationally backward and their being non-responsive to social change etc. seems to be an exaggerated perception which has been the staple of mainstream academics and media projections. There is no doubt that more research is needed in this area, particularly in the present context of rapid socio-economic and political change, and the impact of this on women. We as social scientists need to develop new approaches and methodologies to study the problem of Muslim women in India who are a minority within a minority. The approach should not merely focus on the narrow textual aspects of religion, nor even on the narrowly economic but a holistic approach wherein the economic, social, religio-culural, historical and political strands are brought together. At the same time, micro studies are needed to see the impact of wider macro-processes and structures and the varying responses of the Muslim community, including its women to these changes The challenge for social scientists is to simultaneously see the commonality of the problems of Muslim women with the rest of Indian women as well as the specificity of their situation. This calls for a sensitive understanding of the historical and political context and location within which Indian Muslim women are placed.

A Socio-historical and Political Discourse on the Rights of Muslim Women: Concerns for Women’s Rights or Community Identity: \u3cem\u3e(Special reference to 1937 and 1939 Acts)\u3c/em\u3e

The present paper deals with the discourse of the rights of Muslim women in the pre- independence period with particular reference to the Shariat Act 1937 and the Muslim Marriage Dissolution Act 1939 and the socio- historical and political background in the enactment of these Acts. The role of women’s organizations and the women’s movement, community leaders and political parties has been taken into account in dealing with the discourse. Whether the discourse was more to show political strength of the Muslim community or to protect the rights of women? Why was a need for these enactments felt by women’s organizations, the community, national leaders, and reformers? Was issue of gender justice the focus for demanding these enactments by the community leaders and the political parties? The argument which I have tried to put throughout this paper is that these two acts were seen more of maintaining community identity and showing numerical strength for political gains than protecting and rights of Muslim women. To this end, we have tried to capture various debates that took place among the legislators in the assembly, women’s organizations, social reformers, community leaders and so on with regard to application of Sharia. The paper is based on information collected from secondary sources, and analysis is more from a gender rights perspective with a historical and political background

Breaking stereotypes: two generations of Muslim women

"The stereotyped image of Muslim women as educationally backward and their being non-responsive to social change etc. seems to be an exaggerated perception which has been the staple of mainstream academics and media projections. There is no doubt that more research is needed in this area, particularly in the present context of rapid socio-economic and political change, and the impact of this on women. We as social scientists need to develop new approaches and methodologies to study the problem of Muslim women in India who are a minority within a minority. The approach should not merely focus on the narrow textual aspects of religion, nor even on the narrowly economic but a holistic approach wherein the economic, social, religio-culural, historical and political strands are brought together. At the same time, micro studies are needed to see the impact of wider macro-processes and structures and the varying responses of the Muslim community, including its women to these changes The challenge for social scientists is to simultaneously see the commonality of the problems of Muslim women with the rest of Indian women as well as the specificity of their situation. This calls for a sensitive understanding of the historical and political context and location within which Indian Muslim women are placed.

Comparative Genomics of Escherichia coli Isolated from Skin and Soft Tissue and Other Extraintestinal Infections

Escherichia coli, an intestinal Gram-negative bacterium, has been shown to be associated with a variety of diseases in addition to intestinal infections, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), meningitis in neonates, septicemia, skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs), and colisepticemia. Thus, for nonintestinal infections, it is categorized as extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC). It is also an opportunistic pathogen, causing cross infections, notably as an agent of zoonotic diseases. However, comparative genomic data providing functional and genetic coordinates for ExPEC strains associated with these different types of infections have not proven conclusive. In the study reported here, ExPEC E. coli isolated from SSTIs was characterized, including virulence and drug resistance profiles, and compared with isolates from patients suffering either pyelonephritis or septicemia. Results revealed that the majority of the isolates belonged to two pathogenic phylogroups, B2 and D. Approximately 67% of the isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR), with 85% producing extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and 6% producing metallo- beta-lactamase (MBL). The blaCTX-M-15 genotype was observed in at least 70% of the E. coli isolates in each category, conferring resistance to an extended range of beta-lactam antibiotics. Whole-genome sequencing and comparative genomics of the ExPEC isolates revealed that two of the four isolates from SSTIs, NA633 and NA643, belong to pandemic sequence type ST131, whereas functional characteristics of three of the ExPEC pathotypes revealed that they had equal capabilities to form biofilm and were resistant to human serum. Overall, the isolates from a variety of ExPEC infections demonstrated similar resistomes and virulomes and did not display any disease-specific functional or genetic coordinates. IMPORTANCE Infections caused by extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) are of global concern as they result in significant costs to health care facilities management. The recent emergence of a multidrug-resistant pandemic clone, Escherichia coli ST131, is of primary concern as a global threat. In developing countries, such as India, skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) associated with E. coli are marginally addressed. In this study, we employed both genomic analysis and phenotypic assays to determine relationships, if any, among the ExPEC pathotypes. Similarity between antibiotic resistance and virulence profiles was observed, ST131 isolates from SSTIs were reported, and genomic similarities among strains isolated from different disease conditions were detected. This study provides functional molecular infection epidemiology insight into SSTI- associated E. coli compared with ExPEC pathotypes

Intrinsic Motivation and Academic Self-Efficacy as Mediation between Parental Involvement and Academic Achievement of Elementary Students

This study explored the role of academic self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation in mediating relationship of parental involvement with students’ achievement at elementary level. Employing random sampling technique, a sample of 373 students; 183 boys and 190 girls was recruited from four public sector elementary schools of Multan city. A survey-based questionnaire measuring the research variables was administered to collect the data. Students’ grades in Board’s examination were used as achievement scores of the students. The results demonstrated significantly positive linkage of involvement of parents and students’ achievement. Similarly, “intrinsic motivation and academic self-efficacy” were found to be “mediating the relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement” of students. These findings would be useful for the parents and school teachers in a way that could be helping in enhancing the students' performance by increasing parents’ involvement in educational matters of children.&nbsp

Protocol optimization for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction from dried, fresh leaves, and seeds of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Consistent isolation of best quality deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is particularly problematic due to the presence of phenolic compounds and polysaccharides. Inconsistencies in extraction results can be attributed to the age and growth stages of the plant material analyzed. Mature leaves have higher quantities of polyphenols, tannins and polysaccharides that can contaminate DNA during isolation. In this study, we used fresh and dried leaves as well as seeds for optimization of high quality DNA isolation protocols from A. hypogaea. The DNA extracted with three different methods cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and cesium chloride (CsCl) density gradient) were comparatively studied by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis in terms of quantity and quality. High quality genomic DNA was obtained from fresh leaves by modified CTAB methods. The DNA obtained ranged from 1 to 2.5 ng/μl. DNA obtained by this method was strong and reliable showing its compatibility for simple sequence repeat (SSR) analyses. The SDS based methodology give large quantities of DNA contaminated with polysaccharides. Fresh leaves also gave best result in SDS method. The quantity and quality of DNA obtained was very poor in all the tested methods in case of dried leaf tissues. The current protocol will probably be useful for the extraction of high-molecular weight DNA from other plant materials containing large amounts of secondary metabolites and essential oils.Key words: Polysaccharides, polyphenols, tannins, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cesium chloride (CsCl), secondary metabolites, SSR

Evaluation of seeds of phoenix sylvestris as novel candidate adsorbent in paracetamol poisoning

The adsorption of certain metal ions and dyes on powdered seeds (pits) of Phoenix sylvestris (Arecaceae) suggests the investigation of such material for the adsorption of oral poisoning substances from the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to prepare different types of adsorbents from date pits and explore their adsorption capacity for paracetamol at two physiological conditions, enzyme free simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. The activated charcoal was used as a control. The equilibrium contact time, determined by combining the three forms of date pits and activated charcoal separately with paracetamol in a ratio of 15:1 w/w in both the fluids, was found to be 60 min. The adsorption of all the adsorbents for paracetamol was investigated by increasing the amount of adsorbents while keeping the amount of adsorbate fix, and the data obtained was found to be fit in the Langmuir isotherm. The bonding constants of all the adsorbents were significantly different in SGF (p < 0.05), whereas not significantly different in SIF. The adsorption capacities of all the adsorbents were not significantly different in SGF, whereas, significantly different in SIF (p < 0.05). The results of this study indicate that date pits may be used to prepare activated carbon that may serve as an economical adsorbent for the management of paracetamol oral poisoning cases.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Examining the stability of membrane proteins within SMALPs

Amphipathic co-polymers such as styrene-maleic acid (SMA) have gained popularity over the last few years due to their ability and ease of use in solubilising and purifying membrane proteins in comparison to conventional methods of extraction such as detergents. SMA2000 is widely used for membrane protein studies and is considered as the optimal polymer for this technique. In this study a side-by-side comparison of SMA2000 with the polymer SZ30010 was carried out as both these polymers have similar styrene:maleic acid ratios and average molecular weights. Ability to solubilise, purify and stabilise membrane proteins was tested using three structurally different membrane proteins. Our results show that both polymers can be used to extract membrane proteins at a comparable efficiency to conventional detergent dodecylmaltoside (DDM). SZ30010 was found to give a similar protein yield and, SMALP disc size as SMA2000, and both polymers offered an increased purity and increased thermostability compared to DDM. Further investigation was conducted to investigate SMALP sensitivity to divalent cations. It was found that the sensitivity is polymer specific and not dependent on the protein encapsulated. Neither is it affected by the concentration of SMALPs. Larger divalent cations such as Co2+ and Zn2+ resulted in an increased sensitivity